I Shot For The Sky
by whatagleek
Summary: I know I'm going to fall down.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own The Vampire Diaries. I do, however, own Annabelle Salvatore.

___

"Good morning, little sister" Damon grinned as he descended the stair case.

Belle didn't look up from the table.

"Oh, come on" Damon gave a heavy sigh. "You did what you had to do. He couldn't keep his mouth shut. Don't worry your pretty little head over it."

"Damon" Stefan warned as he entered the room with a mug in his hand.

Damon pointed to himself, mock shock. "What did I do?"

"What don't you do" Stefan replied seriously.

Damon dismissed the comment with a wave of his hand. "It had to be done, Stefan. The little punk would have ratted us out with the drop of a hat. And that, brother, wouldn't have turned out well for any of us"

Stefan rolled his eyes and pushed the mug further towards his sister. "Belle, drink something"

The brunette pushed away from the table and strolled up the stair case, a door slamming a moment later. Stefan exhaled.

Damon snatched the mug from the table and took a large swig of the contents before noticeably forcing it down his throat. "Yuck" He wiped his lips with the back of his sleeve. "Of course she doesn't want any of this crap"

Stefan ignored his brother's comment and returned to the kitchen to fill another mug. Having done so, he climbed the stairs and knocked lightly on the third door to the left. When there was no answer, Stefan pushed it open anyway. Belle was sitting on the end of her bed, the television loud enough to hear, the remote sitting in the palm of her hand. Her eyes scanned the screen as she studied the reporter's surroundings.

"_Talon Hanes was found dead in his backyard early this morning. Police are declaring it suicide, deeming that Talon had fallen from the two storey roof shortly after consuming a large amount of alcohol. A tragedy brought on by, what his parents say was the ending of his relationship to Annabelle Salvatore—"_

Stefan snatched the remote and switched the television off. "You don't need to be watching that"

Belle didn't move her eyes from the now black screen. "I killed him, Stefan"

"No, Belle, no" Stefan took a seat beside his sister.

"I put my hands on his neck and I snapped it right off his spine" The younger woman recalled. "I snapped it right off. His eyes were still open, I remember, his eyes were still open. They were looking at me. He knew"

"Yes, he knew. But he wasn't going to keep that secret, Belle. He told you that. He couldn't be trusted" Stefan soothed.

Belle shook her head. "Damon could have persuaded him. Damon could have told him not to. I could have told him not to. I had a choice, Stefan. I had a choice and I chose to kill him"

"It wouldn't have made a difference. If you had persuaded him he would still know. He would still know deep down, and that would have made everything different. He would have been different." Placing an arm around her small shoulders, he pulled her body into his. "You did the right thing"

Belle clutched at his shirt and exhaled the air she'd held in. Hearing that took much of the weight off her shoulders, but the guilt was still there. It would always be there. She had loved him, after all.

She pulled away. "I want to be alone now"

"Belle—"

"I said I want to be alone" She repeated forcibly.

Stefan placed the mug down on the nearby desk and reluctantly left the room. He slowly and quietly shut the door, lingering when he heard the small glass trinkets being thrown around on the other side. He turned away and wondered back down the stairs. Damon was lying on the couch when he passed.

Damon sat up. "There's no mistaking that you and her are related, Stefan. You're both so emotional and mopey." He gets to his feet, exhaling. "Let's hope she doesn't destroy anything important up there, huh"

With that as his last words, Damon exits the house. Stefan listens as more objects are hurled and shattered against the house's aging walls. A knock at the door snaps him back to reality and he moves to answer it. It's Elena, and she's carrying a small gift basket.

"Hi" She says quietly, "I came to see Belle"

"She's—" Stefan turns his head slightly, glancing into the house. "Busy"

Another crack in the hundred year old wood could not go unheard by Elena, who, frowning, enters the house. "What is she doing?"

"She's dealing, in the only way she knows how" Stefan explains. He takes the basket from Elena's arms and offers her a quizzical glance.

"It's for Belle. It's all they had at the store. I know she won't want it, but I thought I should get it anyway" Elena offers and Stefan nods once. She turns her attention to the staircase. "Do you think it would be okay if I talked to her?"

"I—" Stefan contemplated it. "I don't think that's a good idea, Elena. She's... unstable"

Elena turned, looking at him with large pleading eyes. "Please, Stefan. Maybe I can help"

Unable to resist, Stefan gave another small nod and led her upstairs. Coming to the wooden door, he nodded towards it and allowed Elena to push herself inside. Stefan made no move to follow, but he wasn't going to leave the hallway. Elena stepped across the floor slowly, her eyes on the small form curled up against the bed.

"Belle" She started softly, kneeling beside the grief stricken girl. "I know how this feels"

"No, you don't" Belle snapped back loudly.

"I do. I lost my parents, Belle, I know how you're feeling. I know how annoying it can be when people want to ask if you're alright twenty four hours of the day—"

"This is different"

"All loss feels the same"

"This isn't like when you lost your parents, Elena" Belle shouted thoughtlessly. "This is different, okay? This is really different. You don't understand. You won't understand. So if you're here to consol me, then forget it. I want to be alone."

Elena wasn't going to back down. She shook her head gently, "No one wants to be alone"

"God dammit, Elena" Belle sprang to her feet, her teeth clenched together. "If you don't leave, I _will_ kill you"

Her usually blue eyes were now almost black. Elena sucked in a breath of air as Stefan burst into the room. He crossed the floor in three long strides and stopped between the two. "That's enough, Belle"

Belle didn't take her eyes off Elena, who was getting to her feet. "I will kill you just as easily as I killed him"

"That's enough, Belle" Stefan repeated.

"That wasn't your fault, Belle" Elena calmed.

"Yes, it was._ I_ killed him, Elena. I killed him. I snapped his neck and I _killed_ him"

"That's enough, Belle" Stefan warned brashly, his eyes flashing a warning.

Elena looked between them, feeling as though there was a secret there that neither were going to tell. Truth seeped through every word Belle had said, but that couldn't be true, could it? He fell from the roof of his house. He killed himself.

"Let's go, Elena" Stefan spoke softly as he guided her out of the room and back downstairs. "I'm sorry about what she said. She— she thinks she was responsible for him falling from the roof. Like him breaking his neck was her fault or something"

"That's horrible" Elena sighed, "None of that, in any way, was her fault"

Stefan nodded, but said nothing. If he didn't say anything, that wasn't exactly lying. He longed for the day that he could tell Elena everything. That would make everything just that little bit easier, just a little. But that would make everything a little more dangerous than it already was too, and he couldn't take that chance unless he had too.

That day was yet to come, and for now, he needed to protect Elena from what she didn't know.

"I think I should go back and check on her—" He excused himself.

"Oh yeah, of course" Elena nodded and headed for the door that Stefan was holding open. "Tell her I'm sorry, will you"

"I will" Stefan promised.

With a nod of her head, Elena quietly made her way back to her car as she heard the door close noisily behind her. She hoped she hadn't crossed some sort of line. Upsetting her boyfriend's sister really wasn't something she wanted to do.


End file.
